The changes brought about by the rapid integration of automated systems and artificial intelligence in the workplace and everyday life pose new ethical, social and legal challenges. Among these challenges, mitigating biases and gender discrimination in intersection with other axes of inequality associated with AI in the current algorithmic context is one of the main concerns. It is also crucial to consider the impact of these digital transformations on the most vulnerable groups in society, as there is a risk that both women and other underrepresented groups in the technology sectors, including people with lower socioeconomic status or those at risk of social exclusion, are left out of the design of artificial intelligence tools or suffer more from the discrimination arising from the use of these technologies.

The ACTFEM TOOLKIT project, led by GenTIC director Milagros Sáinz in collaboration with Marie-Monique Schaper from the research group GRIHO of the University of Lleida, aims to promote reflection and facilitate the digital empowerment of secondary school teachers and female students regarding the use of artificial intelligence with a gender perspective. The initiative includes formative activities, debates and co-creation sessions with teachers and students from secondary education centres in Catalonia. As a result, an educational toolkit will be co-designed created, which will include didactic materials and resources for using and learning about AI from a gender perspective in the classroom.

The first activities with female secondary school students enrolled in two educational centers in Hospitalet de Llobregat took place between the end of 2023 and May 2024. Using participatory methods, the sessions stimulated debate and curiosity about the controversies and risks associated with the use of artificial intelligence and its impact on gender biases, inequalities and stereotypes. They also encouraged reflection on the opportunities that technology offers for young women’s learning and career development.

Between May and June 2024, the first training courses for secondary school teachers took place at the Institut Escola del Treball in Barcelona and in different centers in the region of Lleida. The sessions introduced teachers to the principles of gender equality in pedagogy and explored strategies for teaching technology from a gender equality focus. Experiences about the use of AI as an educational tool were also shared, and participants got to know STEAM resources (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) suitable for secondary education.

A team of researchers from GenTIC, consisting of Milagros Sáinz, Miruna Bivol, Rocío Segura Nebot, María José Romano, Beatriz López and Cristina Segura, as well as researchers Marie-Monique Schaper, Rosa Maria Gil Iranzo and Mercè Teixidó Cairol from the University of Lleida, are involved in the design and analysis of these sessions, with the collaboration of Juan Francisco Cardona, Equality Coordinator from the Institut Escola del Treball in Barcelona.

The ACTFEM TOOLKIT training and research project is funded by the Women’s Institute of the Spanish Ministry of Equality and is also carried out in collaboration with the ACTFEM project of the Plàudite Teatre theater school, a social intervention initiative to prevent school dropout among young girls through the performing arts and applied technology.

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